Alex – Heart Of The Vanguard

I walked back into the room downstairs, now vacated and somewhat tidied up after mine and Wrex's little scuffle. The mess from the smashed cupboards was mostly cleared along with the ejected shells from my SMG. The door to the right of the tv was now open and a metallic clinking noise was now emanating from there, so I made my way to investigate, knowing it would be Wrex anyway.

Me: "Listen, I thought I'd come back down to apologise and... why the fuck do you have a boxing ring?!" I asked stood at the door gazing into the room which had a full gym set up, including the aforementioned boxing ring in the center. I spotted Wrex on a bench press to my left, he heaved the rather heavy looking barbell set of weights back onto the stand before sliding out.

Wrex: "Oh, so you didn't come back down here to apologise?"

Me: "Well who the bloody hell are you going to be fighting with?"

Wrex: "Anyone that comes down here giving me attitude." He said bluntly raising an eyebrow at me.

Me: "Excuse me, you attacked me first."

Wrex: "Yep, and kicked your ass!"

Me: "*Scoff* as if, I was about to vaporise your head over the ceiling!"

Wrex: "Yeah because you cheated in hand to hand combat."

Me: "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware there were any rules?"

Wrex: "I'm detecting just a little bit of tension between us..."

Me: "Oh you think?"

Wrex: "...And I get a feeling it's because you're a sore a loser." he mocked with a smile. 'Oh my god his smile was annoyingly charming'.

Me: "Oh you want to go again?!" I slammed my faceplates shut.

Wrex: "Yeah as a matter of fact I do! But lose the armour and we'll take this to the ring." He demanded, pointing at the ring. I shook my head,

Me: "Ooohoho no,... no, nice try. I'm not stripping off for you!, You perv!" His shoulders dropped,

Wrex: "Ok, that's not what I meant, I mean your armour is over powered, let's make it fair. And what are you worried about?, I'm 'naked' right now in front of you, if that's what you're worried about, us real Dragons don't care or think about each other like that, how many clothed Dragons have you seen?"

Me: "Well, none... but hey, what do you mean 'you real Dragons'?"

Wrex: "I know you use to be Human, but if you think you're one of us? Prove it." He said while jumping up into the ring, I watched and admired as his rather muscular frame elegantly slipped up through between the ropes so silently.

Me: "I have nothing to prove, I've killed 2 SkyTech already! I would never have done that as a Human!"

Wrex: "Wow. A whole 2? Doesn't make you a Dragon though, your jaw would fall off if you saw my kill count."

Me: "Try me."

Wrex: "Well I haven't actually been sad enough to count them, but I must be well into the thousands. You taking on my challenge or not? Want to prove yourself?"

Me: "That's not something I need to do..." I started heading towards the door to leave.

Wrex: "Did I mention, I've seen you 'naked' before anyway?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned back to him slowly, catching his mouth crease up, he knew he got me. I willed my helmet unlatched and placed it on the nearby bench press, I stripped my armour off and he smiled even more, knowing he had won and started pacing slowly around the ring, taking the odd glance at me as I stripped. Once finally done, besides my leaving only my upper torso, back piece and wing armour on, I stepped toward the ring, 

Me: "I need to at least keep my torso armour on, or I'll be slow... and my wing armour is a pain in the arse to take on and off alone." Wrex shrugged his shoulders,

Wrex: "Yeah, don't want you to be any slower do we..." He mocked, "...make your move." He finished as he raised his fists up into position, I did the same. We skirted around each other a little bit in the ring until I tried to throw a punch. He immediately blocked it with his left hand and punched me hard in the left shoulder, knocking me off balance.

Wrex: "Ooo... That's me being gentle... go on, I'll give you another move on the house." I instantly swung again, my fist sliding down his jaw line as he twisted his head to avoid the main impact and immediately followed through with a right hook to the left side of my face, the smack sending me to the floor.

Wrex: "Going to have to be quicker than that... maybe I'll let you put your armour back on? Maybe it will be fair for you." Tasting blood in my mouth I got back up with a growl of annoyance and went straight for the punches,

Me: "YOU'VE...*Swing**Block*... GOT A BIG... *Swing**Block*... FUCKING...*Swing**Block*... MOUTH!" *Swing**SMACK* - I managed to catch him square in the end of his snout, causing him to stumble back against the ropes.

Me: " *Pant* So come on, *pant* where have been looking at my nudes then? *pant*." He rubbed the blood off the end of his snout where it had trickled from his nostrils.

Wrex: "Porn Hub." He smiled and stepped forwards.

Me: "Fuck you." I went to throw a punch again but he grabbed my fist mid throw with his left hand and gave me an upper cut to the jaw with his right, sending me crashing backwards to the deck. My jaw throbbing and tasting yet more blood in my mouth, I spat it out onto the floor as I rolled onto my front, Wrex coming to crouch beside me.

Wrex: "I've seen the footage of you, in the training facility... you know you and I have spoken before, right?"

Me: "I've never met your arrogant ass before..."

Wrex: "How about the hallway of the training scenario? The Blue Dragon hologram? Did Sarah never tell you that she and I were you 3rd option?" I turned my head to look at him, was he serious?

Me: "You? *spit* You possessed that hologram? That was you speaking to me?" Come to think of it now, the voice did sound very much like Wrex's. 

Wrex: "With a little help from Sarah, but yes." He offered a hand out to me, I looked at it before taking it, but instead of allowing him to pull me to feet I used the momentum to knock him to the floor onto his back and to bring myself over to sit on top of him and punched him in his temple. I stepped up off him as he rolled onto his side, groaning as he held the side of his head.

Me: "That's for leaving me there for so fucking long..."

Wrex: "...And that's... that's not boxing..." He groaned, as he slowly started pulling himself up.

Me: "Actually, I've never boxed before." I offered out my hand to him now. "...And this is for saving me, eventually." He looked at my hand, still holding his head. I was prepared for him to try something like what I did to him, but rather than taking my hand, he simply and quickly pounced at me, taking me by surprise and knocking me to the floor. This time with him sitting on top of me, he raised his fist back and I raised my hands up crossed in defence, covering my screwed up face, waiting for the inevitable hit... which never came... I peeked between my hands with one eye, seeing that he had relaxed, I dubiously relaxed slightly myself.

Wrex: "You know, I like you Alex, I think you're alright... and yeah, you are indeed a real Dragon, I almost want to go as far as to say that you've got a Heart of a Vanguard."

Me: "I thought that was some kind of magical crystal thing?"

Wrex: "Sora told you about that then?, 'THE' Heart of the Vanguard is, I said you have the Heart of 'A' Vanguard, there's a difference." I used my right armoured powered wing and launched us both over with ease so that again I was sat atop of him.

Me: "Flattery will get you nowhere."

Wrex: "If you want to be on top I'm fine with that." he said with a wink. That wink... In combination of that comment and how we were positioned... I hadn't even thought about it until he insinuated it... That made me twitch somewhere I never thought a wink could make me twitch... determined to keep myself under control, I rolled my eyes and got up off him, making my way to the edge of the ring.

Me: "Trust me Wrex, if you knew my past, you wouldn't be saying or thinking that sort of thing."

Wrex: "That's just the thing..." He pulled himself from the floor as I slid out under the ropes and he followed me to the edge of the ring, leaning on the ropes and looking down at me, "...I do know your past, I've read your SkyTech file, 'Alexander Crawford'..." I stopped again at hearing my old full name... It just didn't work anymore for me, it sounded... wrong.

Me: "The name's 'Alex', and just 'Alex', and if you know that much about me then why are you mocking me with fake interest?" I asked as I turned to leave but Wrex leapt over the ropes to land in front of me, stopping me, again I was amazed at his graceful agility.

Wrex: "Because it's not fake interest, that Human in that file?, that Alexander Crawford?, that's not you, the beautiful Dragon that I've not long met, who's standing right here in front of me, her name's Alex, 'just Alex', a completely different, new person." I hated the way his warm affectionate charm was working on me, but I wasn't going to admit that to him, wasn't going to let him win and I was going to do my utmost to fight it too. I side stepped around him and started to collect my armour up and he stepped away from me behind me somewhere, returning to stand in front of me as I was standing up with my arms full of different parts of armour.

Wrex: "Come here..." I looked at him as he gently wiped along my lips with a towel, removing the blood from them, "... that's better..." I looked down as I walked around him and into the living area, dropping my rather heavy armour pieces onto the sofa. "...hey, I get it..." He said sounding somewhat depressed, standing in the gym doorway, "...listen, if you head into the bedroom, door on the left is a bathroom... I'm just going to use it quick to clean myself up then you can use it to bath or shower for as long as you want, if you want to that is." And he headed off into the bedroom.

I sat on the sofa, burying my head into my hands, I knew exactly what was going on, I knew this feeling, from the prison, I'm horny. No, I wasn't not horny, I was absolutely gagging for it! I could feel the burning desire in my crotch and I was sure I could smell my own need to fuck, just as he probably could as well. I hadn't been this bad though since the prison and they were inducing additional hormones back then, but that wasn't the case now so I had no excuse, so what was wrong with me? I looked over to my armour sat on the sofa next to me, the closed helmet seemingly staring back at me on its side. I quickly grabbed the neck piece placed it on my neck, attaching it to the collar section of the torso piece, then donned the rear and lower helmet piece then finally the helmet. The helmet latched and instantly my vision feeds and HUD returned.

Crystal: "Hello Alex."

Me: "Hi Crystal, tell me quick please... did Sarah ever contact my fiancee?"

Crystal: "Yes, she sent 1 email and 3 phone calls."

Me: "Really? What was said??"

Crystal: "Would you like me to summarise or display as text format on your HUD?"

Me: "On my HUD please."

Crystal: "Very well. Email sent to miss Kayley Atwell, dated Wednesday 5th January 23:32 displayed now."

I read the email that Crystal had popped up.

-

'Dear Kayley Atwell,

I know that you do not know me so I will get straight to the point. I have important information regarding you fiance, Alex Crawford. It's not information I can share via email or over the phone, it is very sensitive so I can only give it to you in person. I can arrange to meet you at whatever location you desire for your peace of mind but this is urgent and important, please reply as soon as possible so this meeting can be arranged by phone.

Sincerely,

Sarah Jarvie.

CEO. Jarvie Industries.'

-

Me: "And? What was the reply?"

Crystal: "There was no reply, the email was marked as spam and then was deleted."

Me: "Right... so then Sarah tried calling correct?"

Crystal: "Correct."

Me: "Were the calls recorded by any chance?"

Crystal: "Indeed they were."

Me: "Can you play them for me please?"

Crystal: "Certainly, replaying call 1 of 3 now." I now listened intently to the conversation between Sarah and my fiancee.

-

Sarah: "Hello, Miss Atwell?"

Kayley: "Hello, who's speaking?"

Sarah: "Miss Atwell, my name is Sarah Jarvie, May I call you Kayley?"

Kayley: "Ok? Sure?"

Sarah: "Thank you, Kayley, did you you read my recent email I sent you?"

Kayley: "Email?"

Sarah: "Yes, regarding your fiance's whereabouts and condition?"

Kayley: "Ohhh! That was you! I remember now! Do you know what, you people are sick! My fiance is dead! You disgust me!"

Sarah: "No no, Kayley, he's not dead! You misunderstand! This call is gen-"

-Line ended-

-

Me: "Play call 2."

Crystal: "Replaying call 2, made just 1 day later."

-

Sarah: "Miss Atwell? Kayley? Please don't hang up, I am serious, your fiance asked me to contact you."

Kayley: "You again?! What is the matter with you?!"

Sarah: "I'm trying to help you two reconnect, but there is something you need to know about Alex's current state, I really need to arrange a meeting with you so we can discuss it."

Kayley: "Is he alive?"

Sarah: "Yes... but not as you remember him, the situation is very... complicated."

Kayley: "Well uncomplicate it because we buried him."

Sarah: "I can't, not over the phone. I could potentially meet with you this evening if you'd like to-"

Kayley: "God! You scammers are fucking evil!"

Sarah: "I'm not a scammer Kayley, I'm-"

-Line ended-

-

Me: "Why does she think I'm dead? Who did they bury?"

Crystal: "After your accident you were nowhere to be found and declared missing. A body was found 43 days after your death with DNA profiling to match yours."

Me: "What the fuck?? They killed someone to put in my place??... Or... Do you reckon there was no body at all? And that's what the authorities told her?"

Crystal: "The exact specifics are unknown. However your suspicion might not be too inaccurate. Rather curiously there is no photographic evidence on the UK police database of your supposed remains.

Me: "So the police lied to her... Go on... call 3." 

Crystal: "This call was made 3 days after the last call."

-

Sarah: "Kayley, I'm begging you for yours and your fiance's sa-"

Kayley: "JUST FUCK OFF!"

Unknown male voice in background: "Kayley? Who is it?!"

Kayley: "Some scam caller..."

Male: "Well let me talk to th-"

-Line ended-

-

Me: "Who the fuck is that?!"

Crystal: "I'm sorry Alex, Miss Jarvie did try to make contact, as you can see, but following that call she completed some simple research on different social medias. The results of which seems as though Miss Atwell has been getting romantically involved with a police detective that was in charge of the investigation into your disappearance after your funeral, but Miss Jarvie didn't have the heart to tell you." I stood up,

Me: "BUT, THEY LIED TO HER?!"

Crystal: "It is to my understanding that the detective never saw the body, only his team and he was informed as such. He may be a victim of the false claim as much as miss Atwell.

Me: "THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT..." I yanked my helmet off, "...ANY BETTER!" ...and threw it across the room to the kitchen area, making a large hole in the plaster wall and imbedding the helmet in it and I fell to my knees. As much as I tried, I couldn't hold back the tears, all my effort, all my drive for the past month has been to get home, to get back to her. Now I find out that barely 5 months later since my kidnapping and my faked death that she's already moved on!, I felt so betrayed, let down, destroyed, my heart had just been dropped and shattered into a thousand pieces. I rolled onto my side balled myself up as I tried my best to quietly just sob to myself. There was nothing for me now, nothing left to fight for... Until a pair of arms scooped up under me and heaved me off of the floor and placed me down on the sofa and I was released. I pulled my head from my arms slightly to see Wrex shove my armour further up the sofa and sit next to me and place a hand on my hip... It really wasn't easy for us Dragons to sit upright in human chairs, he didn't look overly comfortable the way he was slouched. He looked over to my peeping face,

Wrex: "You want to talk about it?..." I ducked my head back down into cover, it was bad enough he had seen me like this already, without seeing my blubbering face as well, "...come on, tell uncle Wrex all about it." He grabbed my shoulders and spun me on the spot but begrudgingly opening me up out of my ball at the same time, pulling my head into his shoulder to face the tv, wrapping his arm around me.

I don't know why or what, but something was telling me it was fine to open up to him,

Me: "*Sniff* You say you read all of my file, right?"

Wrex: "Yeah?"

Me: "Well my fiancee, Kayley? I just found out she's seeing someone else."

Wrex: "Oh... And I guess you were hoping to get back with her?"

Me: "Yeah. Well, maybe? *Sniff* I guess it would have been nice if..., Erm.. I don't know..."

Wrex: "...I suppose it would have been nice to at least have had a chance to find out if it was going to work still?"

Me: "Yeah... Yeah, exactly that. I'm just being pathetic, a hopeless romantic, just ignore me." I stated as I tried to stand up but he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to sit back down and stood up himself in front of me to face me.

Wrex: " 'Pathetic' maybe a little, yes, 'hopless romantic', nothing wrong with that. 'Ignore you'?, no. Do you know when I had my 'pathetic' episode and abandoned everything and everyone I knew, it would have been nice for someone to come pick me up when I was down... But, alas, no one did."

Me: "So why are you trying to pick me up then?"

Wrex: "Because I hate seeing people down with no one helping them." I stayed quiet, I didn't really want his sympathy, or anyone's for that matter. He walked away, over to the cooker, which miraculously, the pot that was simmering earlier still was and wasn't knocked off. He pulled the lid off and made a deep inhale, making a small sound of approval before grabbing a bowl from one of the cupboards that we didn't destroy and served some of the pot's contents up into, grabbed a spoon from the drawer and walked over to me and offered me the bowl.

Wrex: "Here, eat, you'll feel better."

Me: "I'm not really hungry, I don't mean to be rude but my suit feeds me everything I need and I'm not really in the mood to eat either."

Wrex: "Does it feed you a taste in your mouth? Hmm? Or the warm feeling as it hits your stomach? It's only a small bowl of Goulash, not exactly going to fill you up, but there's more there if you want it." He replied as I looked up to him and he gave that charming smile again. I begrudgingly took the bowl and spoon and with a with a clawed finger, he gently wiped a fresh tear away from under my eye, smiling contently and walked off back to the cooker. I had to admit, it did smell pretty good, so I scooped up and ate a spoonful... Wow, it even tasted better than it smelt.

Me: "Thank you... This is good, you made this yourself?"

Wrex: "All my years on Earth, you think you wouldn't pick up a few Human recipes? But you're welcome." Again smiling. I chowed down the rest of the bowl in silence, actually enjoying it more than I thought I would, pouring the last of contents into my mouth at the end, giving Wrex something to chuckle at.

Wrex: "As I say, more there if you want it, help yourself." I leaned forwards and placed the empty bowl on a coffee table, my mind still set on Kayley...

'I've lost her... Let's face it, being a Dragon was one mark against ever getting her back, becoming female was another, and me apparently being dead is another nail in the coffin... Literally... And finally, she's found someone else already... I didn't stand a chance now. Maybe I'll get over it, one day? I had to I suppose. I mean, look at Wrex, over a thousand years old and he still looks happy... Maybe he's lost people?'

Me: "Wrex, if you don't mind me asking, have you ever had anyone special? Girlfriend? Fiancée? Wife? or maybe even kids?"

Wrex: "A wife? Hmm... Us Draconians approach relationships a bit differently..."

Me: "How so?"

Wrex: "You want the honest answer?"

Me: "Is it as bad as you're making it sound?"

Me: "Depends on your views on relationships... Basically as a species we approach sex very casually, kind of like some Humans do I suppose. Most couples meet through work, random hook ups, clubs or maybe even just walking up and talking to someone in a... Well, closest thing you have in your society is a 'cafe'? I suppose? But yeah relationships can form and couples can officially announce themselves as partners, as a sort of, exclusivity kind of. Theres no marriage or legal proceedings as such."

Me: "Ok, but I can't help but notice that you evaded the original question." He had served himself up some Goulash and sat down next to me and took a spoonful before replying.

Wrex: "Yes... I had a girl... kind of... I was never really one for sleeping around I had to admit, I was with her since on and off since I was quite young, 4 or 5 I think, I was only a year older than her."

Me: "Ah, primary school love." I teased.

Wrex: "What?"

Me: "Oh I guess you've lived in America mostly, erm, early primary school in England, I suppose that's about kindergarten age?"

Wrex: "Ahh, ok, fair enough, but we're already adolescents by that age really."

Me: "You what? You just said about age 4 or 5?" He chuckled again, trying not to spit out another spoonful he just took.

Wrex: "Yeah, we live very long adult lives, we're officially adults and pretty much fully grown at 7." I shook my head in disbelief.

Me: "So what was her name?"

Wrex: "Star Light.

Me: "Draconian names are weird as well..." He chuckled again at my response,

Wrex: "Well Star Light was her nick name, ha ha, her mum called her that up until she died when Star Light had not long turned 3. She wanted everyone to call her it as a constant reminder. But her real name was Lynxin. We pretty much were partnered, just never lived together or made it official."

Me: "What happened between you 2? If you don't mind me asking."

Wrex: "It's fine. I fucked up basically. It was a few things really, I let my career dominate my life, focused on getting the job done, promotions.... when we were younger, with both of us being in the Vanguard, we said it would be a bad idea to make it official and take it further incase we lost one another... after a few years I wanted to make it official, she didn't. Then later on, she did but I think I was past that point, it's rather... complicated."

Me: "It's ok, I had a friend like that once, back in school, there'd be time when she'd be interested and I wasn't, then I would be interested and she wouldn't, so I get it..." He pulled weird look at me, "...What?" I said worried.

Wrex: "Sorry, for a moment then... Doesn't matter."

Me: "No, tell me please."

Wrex: "*Sigh* I had forgotten that you were a guy, so when you said 'she'..."

Me: "Oh... Right." I said looking away awkwardly.

Wrex: "Hey, it's alright, as I said earlier, it's good that I don't think of you like that, all I see is a beautiful Dragoness."

Me: "Come oonnn...? you really think I'm beautiful? We all look pretty much the same right? Plus, what you see outside doesn't match the inside."

Wrex: "I think it does, from what I've seen so far, this new life matches your personality, you must feel it surely?..." I gave a small nod of agreement, it was true, I was enjoying my recent found abilities and as each day passed I felt more comfortable with myself than I ever had done. "...and as long as it's not too bold for me to say, then yes, you are quite pretty." I had to look away again, I could feel my face heating up, thank fuck for scaly skin again and not displaying visually any form of blushing, but again I felt a warming sensation down below. I tried to change the subject.

Me: "So you were both in the Vanguard? You and Star Light?"

Wrex: "Yeah, Strike Team Fury. Myself as the team leader, Skylen, my brother, or rather, step brother and second in command. Then Star Light, Eishin and Clayne. We were a fearsome team..." I saw his mind wander, clearly reminiscing.

Me: "So no kids?"

'Why the fuck did you ask about kids when you're trying to stop yourself being horny?!'

Wrex: "No, again, we never really spoke about it other than to agree it was a bad idea with us both being on the same Strike Team." I started giggling to myself, which confused him judging by his expression.

Me: "Sorry, but do Draconians use a lot of extra large condoms of something?" I asked rhetorically but with a laugh.

Wrex: "Ohh... He he, erm... We're a bit more advanced than that." He tapped his lone gauntlet that he still had on his right arm with his spoon.

Me: "What about it?" I replied calming back down after I realised I probably just sounded really stupid.

Wrex: "All of us Draconians have one, either a simplified bracelet like what you've seen Sora wear, or Vanguard just use their Gauntlet. But we can tell them to alter our chemistry make up, including hormones, even if only slightly. With males it reduces fertility down to about 8%, and with females down to just about 3% chance of getting pregnant. So if both parties are using the chemical contraception then the chances of getting pregnant are next to nothing."

Me: "Oh, so how long does it take for the contraception to kick in?"

Wrex: "Well, males, just a couple of days, females need to catch before they're next in heat."

Me: "Ohhh... I see. Soo... Sorry, I'm still learning about, well me, this body... So how... actually, err, sorry, never mind."

Wrex: "What's up?"

Me: "No it's embarrassing, I don't want to ask."

Wrex: "No go on, seriously, I don't mind and I'm not going to judge you, I want to help."

Me: "*Sigh* Ok, so us, females, get in heat, what? once year?"

Wrex: "Erm, no, actually 4 times a year."

'Oh great, I've got to put up with being mega horny 4 times a year... Oh shit! What about periods?! No, that's where I draw the line, I'm not asking him that, no way.'

Wrex: "So can I ask you a question? When you and Sarah designed this suit of armour of yours, did you put in some sort of chemical and homone balancing system?"

Me: "We thought about it... But I didn't want it. SkyTech messed with me too much as it was, giving me hormone boosters, which constantly made me... Yeah... So I said I didn't want that again, I wanted to be in control of myself. But now, I'm kinda regretting it."

Wrex: "Struggling to control your urges?"

Me: "No!..." I answered defensively, he stared at me, raising his eyebrow with a bemused look. "...Is it that obvious?" I asked now a bit worried.

Wrex: "I could smell you since you got out of your armour."

Me: "Oh my god..." I said embarrassed as I buried my head into my hands.

Wrex: "Hey it's fine, it's not like I can't control myself and take advantage off you, unless you want me to..." He finished with a wink, again I felt my face heat up. He got up and walked towards his fridge, gabbed two bottles out in one hand. "...by the way, please stop wrecking the joint, I have to live here you know..." He mocked, pointing to my helmet imbedded in the wall before yanking it out of it's crater.

Me: "Sorry." Wrex made his way back over to the couch, placing the helmet in the pile and popped the lids off the bottles using his claws and handed me one.

Wrex: "It's ok, I'll let you off this time..." he winked at me yet again. "...I'm just joking by the way, I'm sorry for being too forward with things, I've been alone for a long time, apart from Sarah that is and you're the first of my species I've hung out with for an even longer time, it's nice."

Suddenly I felt a bit of anger build,

Me: "It's 'Nice'?" Wrex's smile disappeared upon hearing my tone, I shot to my feet and looked dead at him.

Wrex: "Uh-oh... It's not nice?" Sounding worried towards the end.

Me: "Wrex, what are we doing?! Skylen has the Shard, the SkyTech are still doing their bull shit and we're sat here having a lovely little natter, eating fucking Goulash and drinking beer!"

Wrex: "Sora asked us to stay put..."

Me: "Yeah but we could be discussing important stuff like, his likely whereabouts, or how exactly he plans to create this army!" He stood up and stepped in front of me, gently grabbing both of my upper arms and sighed. He was a couple of inches taller than me now that I was out of my armour, so it meant that he was looking down slightly at me, staring deep into my eyes

Wrex: "I get it, you're impatient, you want to get on with your job and you're worked up and frustrated. But you need to chill out for a bit, this... think of this as the calm before you enter the storm yeah?"

Me: "And I presume by the way you said that, you're still not going to help?..." his confident look vanished and he let me go and returned to his seat on the sofa, taking a swig of his drink. "...Wrex?"

Wrex: "I can't."

Me: "What do you mean you can't?!"

Wrex: "I've let too many people down, lost too many good people because I 'helped' them."

Me: "I thought you said you wanted to help me earlier."

Wrex: "That's different, that's helping you emotionally and mentally. I'm referring to life in general... and the coming war... I just... Can't bring myself to do it." I didn't like this look on him, this depressive look, I preferred the way he looked down at me when he held my arms just now with that smile, or when he was on top of me in the ring... My mind started wandering, thinking about things it shouldn't be... but I thought it back for now, I was only on the rebound... Right?...

(-Nathan Furst)